The best summer reads under 400 pages

These books will make any plane, train, or car ride go by more quickly.

BusinessInsider

It's time to relax with a good read.

Summer is, without question, the best time of year to kick back and relax with a good book.

And if you're planning a getaway sometime soon, you're probably on the lookout for something new that you can get through fairly quickly.

All captions are by the Amazon Books team.

"Ginny Moon" by Benjamin Ludwig

"Afterlife" by Marcus Sakey

"Goodbye, Vitamin" by Rachel Khong

"'Goodbye, Vitamin' is a fast, funny, read about family, love, and finding your footing. Rachel Khong is able unearth the humor in tough situations: heartbreak, unfulfilled expectations, and even Alzheimer’s disease — and she's written a story that stays with you, populated by characters who feel like your own friends."

"When the English Fall" by David Williams

"Here's a thought: What happens to the Amish in a post-apocalyptic world? One possibility lies in this surprisingly believable and disarming novel about life after the power grid goes out. As you might imagine, the Amish would be fairly well-prepared for such an event — but the rest of America isn’t. Told through diary entries written by an Amish father named Jacob, 'When the English Fall' is a personal story that shows just how easily our cultural fabric could begin to fray."

"To Capture What We Cannot Keep" by Beatrice Colin

"This sexy, romantic, and well-researched novel will take you to fin-de-siecle Paris, where engineers raise the Eiffel Tower up into the clouds while artists and aristocrats enjoy the demimonde life below. Marriages of convenience, affairs of the heart, the future of Paris and nostalgia for its past place rival claims as the 19th century draws to a close."

"Camino Island" by John Grisham

"Grisham turns his eye toward the world of rare books, as a gang of thieves stages a heist from a vault below Princeton University. The loot draws in an owner of a bookstore on Camino Island, Florida, as well as a writer who has just lost her job as a teacher. It's a little different kind of Grisham, but wholly recognizable."

"The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden

"There's a small but mighty space where fantasy and literary fiction can clasp hands and create a brilliant story that resonates in the soul. Set in the 14th century in the forest north of Moscow, this novel builds like a thunderstorm as Vasya Petronova is torn between her family's expectations that she grow up to be a nice, domesticated noblewoman and the wild magic in her soul."

"An alchemical collusion — and sometimes collision — between the forces of magic and science, Anders' novel swirls together fantasy and sci-fi into an often absurd but never slight modern tale of a witch and a tech genius who grow up together, grow apart, and finally have to save the world. Anders' clever writing propels the action through its twists and turns, delivering a mesmerizing, thoughtful, and poignant novel that recently won the Nebula Award for Best Novel."

"Lauren's wickedly modern story of two talent agents in Hollywood whose accelerating romantic relationship hits the skids when a new boss tells them they have to compete for the same job. As Carter and Evie bounce between courtship and combat, this hilarious, sexy novel will make you gasp and giggle."

"Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

"Smart, taut and gripping, Grann's true-if-largely-unknown tale of big oil and serial murder on the Osage Indian Reservation in the 1920s is sobering: at once unsurprising and unbelievable, full of the arrogance and inhumanity that our society has yet to overcome."

"Exit West" by Mohsin Hamid

"In this futuristic novel, young lovers flee a war-torn Middle Eastern country to seek safety in the West, where cities like London have become embattled refugee settlements. Hamid (author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist) has said that in some sense we are all refugees, and it's easy to sympathize with his protagonists, who find their romance tested by their travails in exile."

"Priestdaddy" by Patricia Lockwood

"When Patricia Lockwood temporarily moves back in with her parents — her father, a Catholic priest who loves electric guitars; her mother, focused on disasters and Satan worshippers — she returns, as well, to the memories of her upbringing. Poetically precise language and darkly hilarious observations spark zingers that will make you rethink your own childhood indoctrinations."

"Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders

"Set in 1862, at a ghost-filled cemetery where President Lincoln's beloved son Willie has been laid to rest, this first novel by acclaimed short-story-writer and essayist George Saunders will upend your expectations and leave you hooting with laughter when you aren't wiping away your tears."

"The Impossible Fortress" by Jason Rekulak

"A coming-of-age story tucked inside a love letter to the strange and wonderful 1980s. It's one of those rare and special books: once you've finished it, you'll want all your friends to read it immediately."

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